Prong collars are like power steering for dogs. Wish I had used one years ago. I always thought they were cruel until it was explained to me that more damage can be done by a dog pulling on a flat collar to the throat than learning to walk beside you with a prong collar .

I always thought they looked like torture devices until I started using them. All three of my dogs and me are considerably happier on our walks now.

A prong is a band-aid. Without proper training it will help you control your dog but not totally stop his want to pull. That being said, I used one for months, and still do when I need to "brush up" on some training exercises where I need to get through to him quickly and accurately.

What worked for me with the pulling was anytime he starts pulling you towards something, turn around and walk the other way. If he runs in front of you again and pulls, do the same, and keep doing this until the dog understands that HE goes where YOU go and not the other way around. Some people have been known to do this for hours on a walk...just taking 3 steps and turning around because their dog is pulling out in front of them. You'll look stupid doing it, but its a pretty successful method of training your dog not to pull.

And as to the instructor...most of them won't just give away a long lesson plan in one lesson because you can't afford to do the other lessons. Dog training is tough to do without an instructor unless you're already knowledgeable. The instructor is there to help you overcome the weekly problems you might come up with. Or if something you're trying to teach your dog isn't working, they might have another idea on how to teach it. I don't blame the guy for not telling you all of his secrets for a lifetime of dog training in 1 session. You need to get over the pulling thing first before you even think about moving on to other more advanced things.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.